Roadmaps & changelogs
Feedback board vs public roadmap vs changelog: what each is for
· 4 min read · By the Sikia team
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Small teams often treat these three as interchangeable, or cram them into one page nobody reads. They answer different questions for different readers, and each one fails in its own way when it's used for the wrong job.
What's the difference between a feedback board, a roadmap and a changelog?
| Feedback board | Public roadmap | Changelog | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers | What do users want? | What are you building? | What changed? |
| Main reader | Engaged users with an opinion | Customers and prospects judging your direction | Every user, especially returning ones |
| Written by | Users, moderated by you | You | You |
| Unit | Request with votes and comments | Item with a status | Dated entry |
| Time frame | Open-ended | Now, next, later | The past |
| Fails when | Posts go unanswered | Promises go stale | It reads like a commit log |
What is a feedback board for?
Collecting demand in one place. Users post requests, vote and add their use cases; you merge duplicates and ask follow-ups. A board is input, not a commitment. A request with lots of votes still has to compete with effort, strategy and revenue, and the guide on prioritizing feature requests covers how to weigh those.
What to avoid: letting posts sit with no reply. A board where nobody from the team responds tells users their input goes nowhere.
What is a public roadmap for?
Communicating decisions. A roadmap shows the subset of requests you've chosen to build and where each one stands. It works best when it's generated from the statuses of real requests, so it can't drift out of sync with the board. Keep it to a few columns, such as Planned, In progress and Shipped, and skip dates unless you'll keep them current. The public roadmap guide goes deeper.
What to leave off: internal work, security fixes, and anything you haven't decided to build.
What is a changelog for?
Showing progress and teaching people what's new. Entries are written for users, not engineers: what changed, why it matters, and how to use it. An entry for a fictional habit-tracker app:
Export your history to CSV (v2.4) You can now export every check-in from Settings, then Data, then Export CSV. Handy for spreadsheets, or as a backup before switching phones. Thanks to everyone who asked for this.
The guide to writing a changelog people read covers format and cadence, and the release notes writer turns PR titles into a first draft.
How do the three connect?
They're one pipeline seen at different points. Follow the CSV export request through it:
- @mira asks for CSV export in Discord. It becomes a request on the board with status Open, and others vote on it.
- You decide to build it and move it to Planned. It appears on the roadmap.
- Work starts, and it moves to In progress.
- It ships and moves to Shipped. A changelog entry links to the request, and everyone who voted is told.
The common break is keeping these in separate tools and updating them by hand. The roadmap goes stale first, and then voters never hear that their request shipped.
Which one should you set up first?
- Early on, with a handful of users: a changelog. It's cheap, shows momentum, and you can still talk to users directly.
- When the same requests repeat across channels: a feedback board, so they're counted in one place.
- When people keep asking what's coming: a public roadmap.
Should they be one tool or three?
One connected system means a status change updates the roadmap, and a release closes the loop without copying anything. Separate tools give you more control, such as hosting the changelog inside your docs, at the cost of syncing by hand. If you go separate, schedule a weekly check that board statuses, the roadmap and the changelog agree.
Doing this with Sikia
In Sikia, the board, roadmap and changelog are one system. The roadmap is built from request statuses (Open, Planned, In progress, Shipped or Closed), and publishing a changelog entry emails everyone who voted for the requests it ships and replies in the original Slack or Discord threads.
FAQ
Can a feedback board replace a roadmap?
Not really. A board shows demand, not decisions. Users also need to see which requests you've committed to, and that's the roadmap's job.
Should a changelog be public?
Yes, for user-facing changes. It's how people find out what improved. Keep internal or security-sensitive details out of it.
How often should you update a public roadmap?
Whenever a status changes. If the roadmap is built from request statuses, that happens as part of your normal work.
Do solo developers need all three?
Not on day one. A changelog and a single place to collect requests are enough until people start asking what's next.
Free tools for this
Do this without the spreadsheet
Related guides
- Roadmaps & changelogsHow to run a public roadmap users trustUsers trust a public roadmap that is current, honest about uncertainty and tied to what they asked for. Show only what you're committed to, use a few clear statuses instead of exact dates, review it every couple of weeks, and tell voters whenever their item moves.
- Roadmaps & changelogsHow to write a changelog people actually readWrite each entry for the person using the product, not the person who wrote the code: a plain title that names what users can now do, one to three sentences on what changed and where, and a screenshot when the UI changed. Publish on a steady rhythm, lead with the biggest change, and tell the people who asked for it.
- PrioritizingHow to prioritize feature requests: votes, RICE and revenueNo single signal is enough: votes show how many users want something, revenue shows how much those users are worth, and RICE weighs value against effort. Merge duplicates first, shortlist by votes and revenue, score only the shortlist with RICE, then check it against your strategy before you commit.